No More Mr ICE Guy
The Iceman cometh. And the Iceman go-eth. Gregory Bovino, the border patrol official who had become the face of the Trump administration’s blue city crackdowns (and seemed to be competing for worst character of the year with Sean Penn’s portrayal of Lockjaw in One Battle After Another) has lost his job (and perhaps more dramatically, been suspended from his own social media account, “which he had used as a vehicle to publicise his militant commitment to Trump’s anti-immigration agenda”). “Bovino’s appearances in Minneapolis caught widespread attention even before Saturday’s tragic episode. He was captured on film throwing a teargas canister at protesters. Pictures of him striding around the city wearing a long winter greatcoat with brass buttons were also noted by German media, which commented that his appearance – including a closely cropped haircut – seemed intended to evoke fascist aesthetics.” Yes, he looked bad. He behaved badly. And he lied habitually, including his recent insistence that Alex Pretti intended to “massacre” agents. He was, in other words, a perpetual candidate for Trump Administration Employee of the Week, until public sentiment turned against ICE in Minnesota, and even key GOP enablers began to warn the president’s signature issue was quickly becoming his signature disaster. So someone had to go, and it turned out to be Bo’. The Guardian: The rise and fall of Gregory Bovino, US border patrol’s menacing provoker-in-chief.
+ The fall of Bovino hardly equals the fall of ICE. Bovino is being replaced in Minneapolis by border czar, Tom Homan, who is more temperate, professional, and moderate by Trump 2.0 standards, but who was also the architect of the family separation policy (among other hits). And as long as Stephen Miller and Kristi Noem (who Trump described today as doing a “very good job”) are running and carrying out the current policies, it’s no time to celebrate. But it is notable that an administration that prides itself on attacking criticism with more aggressiveness has been forced to take a step back. And for that, we have a whole lot of citizens in Minnesota to thank. Adam Serwer in The Atlantic (Gift Article): Minnesota Proved Maga Wrong. “The secret fear of the morally depraved is that virtue is actually common, and that they’re the ones who are alone. In Minnesota, all of the ideological cornerstones of MAGA have been proved false at once. Minnesotans, not the armed thugs of ICE and the Border Patrol, are brave. Minnesotans have shown that their community is socially cohesive—because of its diversity and not in spite of it.”
+ “Trump’s decision to change course was a stunning shift on a policy that is core to his political identity, especially for a president who has often rewarded advisers for doubling down in the face of vocal opposition.” WSJ (Gift Article): The 48 Hours That Convinced Trump to Change Course in Minnesota. (The shift has less to do with ethics or a concern about the loss of innocent lives, and more to do with how the story was playing on cable news.)
+ Here’s the latest from NBC News.
